Take the DNW Industry Survey

Elliot Silver
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Domain Name Wire’s annual survey is now online and ready for you to fill out, and I encourage you to do so in the next few days.

I think it’s the most comprehensive survey that primarily targets  domain investors, and your answers will help give a more accurate picture of the state of affairs in this business.

The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to fill out, and you can fill yours out confidentially if you’d like. The more people who fill out the survey, the more statistically significant the data.

How Houdini Museum Founders Became Domain Investors

Elliot Silver
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David Falchek of the Scranton Times Tribune in Scranton, Pennsylvania, had an interesting article this morning about the founders of the Houdini Museum, who became domain investors by chance. The article mirrors the story of so many others who buy domain names out of need and later realize that the domain assets have significant value in their own right.

According to the article, John Bravo and  Dorothy Dietrich wanted to do advertising for the Houdini Museum along with the other attractions in the Poconos. They wanted to advertise with the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, but because the Museum was located just outside of the Bureau’s marketing range, they weren’t able to do so.

As a result, the duo ended up buying Ponoco Mountain related domain names instead, in order to build their own marketing efforts online. This effort has paid off, as they now own some fairly valuable domain names that have increased in value since purchasing them. They also purchased other valuable domain names along the way.

In addition to Museum domain names like Houdini.org, the  founders own domain names like PoconoHotels.com, Scranton.org, Pocono.org, iPony.com, and many others.

It’s always interesting to read about how people and companies began investing in domain names.

2011 Will Be a Big Year for Mike Berkens & WorldWide Media, Inc.

Elliot Silver
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WWMII was checking out Facebook yesterday, and I saw that Mike Berkens had updated his website information on his profile. Now listed on Berkens’ profile is  WWMI.com, the recently launched corporate website for Berkens’ WorldWide Media, Inc.

I had a chance to speak with Mike, and it looks like his company is gearing up for a big year. “WWMI will be part of a new company that will be announced early in January that will specialize in helping those seeking new extensions into making their extension successful.”

With the introduction of gTLD domain names expected in the next couple of years, Berkens will be in a great position to offer his professional advice in this area.

Berkens was able to offer some additional insight into his company’s gTLD consulting business.

“Generally  the new gTLD consulting will be a big story next year as hundreds of millions maybe billions of dollar will pour into the domain channel to obtain, market and sell domains ending in hundreds of different extensions,” said Berkens. “Up to now domains have all been about left of the dot, that is all the keywords that precede the extension.  After the new gTLD process is approved there will be huge money pouring into developing out extensions, brands and concepts all to the right of the dot.” The truly exciting part is much of this activity will come from those that haven’t invested heavily into the domain channel before.  This will credit a lot of new interest in the domain industry in general.”

Corporate domain consulting and domain sales will also play a prominent role in Berkens’ business in 2011. His experience and expertise will certainly be beneficial to clients looking to acquire high value domain names or sell them.  WWMI will “broker third party owned domains and advise companies on domain acquisition and sale strategies,” said Berkens.

WWMI owns close to 80,000 domain names, has sold over ten millions of dollars worth of domain names, and has one of the most popular domain name media outlets in  TheDomains.com. With the launch of WWMI.com, Berkens is positioning his company for some big moves in 2011 and beyond.

Special Thanks to Domain Boardroom

Elliot Silver
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A few years back, I was accepted as a member of Rick Schwartz’ private domain forum, and I felt that it was a huge accomplishment. Some of the most highly respected domain investors (who didn’t necessarily prefer to stay under the radar) were members, and it was a great place to learn and share.

After Rick’s Board closed a couple of years ago, a new private domain forum was started by Donna Mahony at DomainBoardroom.com. Today, it’s my favorite place to learn and share with  like minded  people, which includes well-known domain investors, SEOs, web designers, lawyers, marketers, webmasters, and other complementary professionals.

DBR is very lightly moderated, and it’s a place where some of the smartest minds involved with the domain industry meet and talk “shop” as well as socialize.

I am  privileged to be a member at Domain Boardroom, as I have learned a considerable amount from its members and met a number of people with whom I am friends and do business. There’s very little BS that’s often seen on the public forums, and it’s a great venue for learning. I appreciate all that Donna has done and continues to do daily, especially with her busy schedule caring for horses and other animals.

Because of some comments recently on a marketer’s blog about DBR (who is not a member), I wanted to show my appreciation with a public blog post.

I do hesitate to post this if only because I know it will invariably lead to additional membership requests, although I warn you that there is a strict membership policy (need to be trusted, known and vouched for by a few members, and a professional that gets along with the membership – which may be just as important as the other aspects of membership).

I was honored when Rick Schwartz accepted me among his peers on his private forum, and I am proud to be a contributing member of Domain Boardroom, which in my opinion, is the best place to learn and share in a supportive environment.

Publicly Traded Banks.com Enters Into Agreement with Domain Capital

Elliot Silver
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I just learned that Banks.com, a company that is publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange under ticker symbol BNX, has entered into a “sale-leaseback” agreement with domain financing company, Domain Capital.

It appears that Domain Capital financed the Banks.com domain name for $600,000, and Banks.com is required to make monthly payments of $14,273.96 for 5 years. With interest, the total amount Banks.com is required to pay over the course of the agreement is $856,437.60.

For me, it’s good to see publicly disclosed deals like this because it shows others that there are options for domain financing. I would imagine it could be tough to get a bank to give a loan on a domain name without a significant amount of red tape (if at all).

The guys at Domain Capital attend virtually every domain conference and tradeshow, and they know the market better than most, allowing both companies to strike a fair deal for a valuable domain asset. This allows a domain owner to get liquidity more easily.

The company filed a SEC Form 8-k to announce the details of this agreement.

Props to Berkens

Elliot Silver
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Although he probably won’t read this as he’s en route to Colombia for the ICANN conference, I want to give props to Mike Berkens and his blog on this third anniversary of its existence.

Mike really has no need to spend his time blogging. His company has one of the top private domain portfolios in existence. Dan Warner published a report that revealed the domains in Most Wanted Domains’ portfolio had the most (or top 5) Whois lookups of any privately held company. Mike’s company’s nameservers were also named one of the “cleanest” in terms of trademarks out of the nameservers with the most domain names.

In other words, not only does Mike own a lot of domain names that are coveted by others, but his portfolio is unarguably made up of generic/descriptive domain names. He also sells domain names from time to time, and when he does, he gets top dollar for them.

Clearly, Mike isn’t blogging to make money.

Mike writes one of the most thoughtful and insightful blogs (if not the most insightful) I read, and I really appreciate his thoughts and ideas. Not only does he have the domain experience, but he also has legal experience as well, which allows him to analyze issues and write them with clarity I wouldn’t get elsewhere. I can’t tell you how many times there was something I didn’t understand until reading about it on his blog.

In addition to this, Mike is one of the most approachable people in the domain space. If you’re at a domain conference, you’ll see him surrounded by friends and colleagues, and he’s always willing to give his time to chat. If Mike isn’t attending a domain conference, it probably isn’t worth going.

When Mike revealed that he had 2,400 posts in 3 years, my jaw dropped. I think I started my blog about 4 months before he did, and he has over 500 more posts than me. Knowing how much time it takes to blog, one really needs to give kudos to Mike’s wife, Judi. I am sure there have been plenty of dinners and events put on hold briefly while writing posts.

I want to say “thanks” to Mike in a blog post for all of his contributions. There aren’t a lot of people who would be willing to share as much as he does (time and insight), and it’s genuinely appreciated.

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